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state politics David Bevan “Rory. How are you mate?” “Kevin, you know how I’m looking after water while Karlene’s away?” “Yeah, and am I glad I don’t have M that baby to look after.” “Well the baby’s done something in its pants Kev …” and on it might have gone. A week has now passed since acting Water Minister Rory McEwen had to call Treasurer Kevin Foley. He was only two days away from handing the baby back to his good friend Karlene Maywald when word got out that a much more expensivewater billing system promised for July had in fact been operating for six months. While it takes a while to get your head around how the billing system works it would have taken the sharper minds in the Rann government milliseconds to work out they were in big trouble. The government was faced with two options: either it had knowingly misled ratepayers, or no-one in Cabinet had the faintest idea how something as fundamental as water bills are collected. Legislation governing this has been around since 1932 but how it works has been a mystery to successive Cabinet ministers. That’s right, the people ultimately responsible for managing billions of dollars – for shaping the future your children will inherit – don’t understand the way water bills are collected. And this has been going on for years. Former Liberal Water Minister Mark Brindal, who insists he’s not generally considered a dope, helpfully volunteered that he’d never realised this practice even existed. “You may make of that what you like,” he told Radio FIVEaa. All Rory McEwen could come up with was, “Whether it’s right, wrong or indifferent it’s always been the practice”. Hardly inspirational. Kevin Foley announced it was a “monu- mental stuff-up”. Kevin is a man of extremes. It’s extraordinary to find something ordinary in his world. His financial record is historic, his budget savings targets a “walk in the park”, and his water billing bungle, well, that’s a “monumental Treasurer Kevin Foley Monumental stuff-up stuff-up”. Yes, byMonday the water billing bungle was Kevin’s stuff up. He took responsibility. OK, Karlene clearly wasn’t full bottle on the whole billing system and she is the minister responsible for SA Water, but no, the Treasurer wanted us to blame him. Why? Perhaps because sharing the blame means it’s broken up into smaller bits and a “monumental stuff-up” is a lot for one person to carry. Besides it’s unlikely anyone in the Labor Caucus could have done a better job handling water. The truth is Karlene Maywald has been one of the government’s better performers. Last year she badly misjudged the backlash from city gardeners during the drippers versus buckets debate but then no Labor MPs seemed to have been in touch enough with the ’burbs to realise how upset gardeners had become over the water restrictions. Understandably the minister didn’t initially get it because her focus was on the irrigators. People’s gardens seemed trivial compared with orchards dying and communities drying up but eventually she recognised the political reality of city politics, accepted gardeners could be trusted and concessions weremade. Maywald was able to the get the message broadly back on track. Since then she’s had to face angry residents from the Lower Lakes, humiliated at having to ask their families to bathe in muck. She’s stared down desperate irrigators in her own electorate who are watching their livelihoods die. Compared with these challenges the $10 million billing bungle is small stuff.Yet the minister has never looked so rattled. It was a very sheepish Karlene Maywald who told Parliament, “The government has made it quite clear that wewerewrong. That the legislation meant that it would be backdated to December and we did not have a full comprehension of that fact. We’ve already admitted that. We’ve apologised to the public and we are providing refunds to the public and we do actually, sincerely apologise if that has inconven- ienced any SA Water customers.” The worst is probably behind Karlene Maywald. What could be more humiliating for a Water Security Minister than to admit she didn’t understand the billing system? But it’s not over yet. Working out how much should be refunded and finding all those deserving payment will be a night- mare, and costly.Perhaps worse still is that all this publicity will prompt people to take a good look at their water bills and when they do they’ll be reminded the sewerage compo- aybe it happened something like this... “Kevin, Rory here.” nent is based on property values. All their efforts at saving water during the last year have made little impact on the amount they pay. While all this was playing out in State Parliament this week one insightful journalist turned to me and remarked that at least the government could be thankful this had occurred now and not next year… the year leading up to an election. WHILE Karlene Maywald was struggling with great responsibility, Jennifer Rankine was having greatness thrust upon her. Mike Rann chose this week to reshuffle his Cabinet and Rankine was the big winner. It’s not hard to find people in the public service, parliament, the media and business who find her promotion curious. As Minister for Consumer Affairs Rankine was responsible for major changes to the way real estate is managed and sold in this state. Until just a couple of weeks ago serious concerns were still being raised by the real estate sector over her grip on the issues, yet the man who prompted the reforms in the first place, Labor MP for Enfield, John Rau, has again missed out on a position in Cabinet. Jennifer Rankine has been given the troubled portfolio of Families and Communities, until now held by the widely-respected Jay Weatherill. No one would deny Weatherill probably deserves a rest from this most unglamorous of jobs but did he deserve a demotion? He goes to Environment. The Premier will be expecting greater things from the likeable Paul Caica, who’s lost Gambling and Emergency Services but takes on Industrial Relations. There’s plenty of workplace battles for Caica to fight but as a former boss with the Firefighters’ Union he brings experience and a cool hand. And while there is no new blood in Cabinet, the Premier has created a new portfolio: the Minister for the Northern Suburbs, also held by Rankine. There are now nearly 60 portfolios – some of them without supporting departments – to manage a state of 1.5 million people. One Labor MP – who didn’t get in the Cabinet – described all of this as “bold and imaginative”. ¦ David Bevan presents Mornings on ABC 891. Tom Richardson is on leave. The Independent Weekly July 25 - 31, 2008 11 www.independentweekly.com.au SENIOR ELECTRICAL DESIGNER 12 Month Contract Leading EPC Provider A specialist in providing total lifecycle engineering services to the mining and oil & gas sectors, this organisation is revered by its competitors. With integrated solutions in project management, design, engineering, procurement, construction and maintenance, it is involved in a vast array of major on- shore and off-shore projects in the global arena. You will be tasked with the development and preparation of single line diagrams, schematics and connection diagrams. 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Interested applicants should contact Diana Pruszkowski on (08) 8216 3513 in our Adelaide office. Alternatively, please email your Curriculum Vitae to ade.os@robertwalters.com.au quoting Ref. No. PRD/303790. Robert Walters, Level 20, 25 Grenfell Street, Adelaide, SA 5000. Web: www.robertwalters.com.au AUSTRALIA BELGIUM CHINA FRANCE HONG KONG IRELAND JAPAN LUXEMBOURG MALAYSIA NETHERLANDS NEW ZEALAND SINGAPORE SOUTH AFRICA SPAIN UK USA